Banned Contractor Back On UConn Basketball Facility Job

A contractor ordered by state officials last month to stop work on UConn's $32 million basketball practice facility for using undocumented workers is back on the job.

Intext Building Systems Inc. of Glastonbury returned to the job site this week after providing proper documentation to the state Department of Labor for at least eight workers.

"Intext was originally under a stop work order but provided a worker's comp policy for the eight workers they employed and they were released (from the order)," said Gary Pechie, the labor department's director of wage and workplace standards.

Pechie said JV Construction of East Hartford, the second contractor who was issued a cease and desist order on Feb. 23, is still barred from working at the facility and has been billed $368,000 for back wages it owes employees.

"It is our understanding that Intext is now absorbing the workers of JV so we will continue to monitor this site to ensure that Intext is doing things properly," Pechie said.

UConn issued a statement Thursday that said, in part: "Now that the "stop work" order has been released, Intext is legally permitted to return to the site. Whether that occurs is the decision of Enfield Builders, the subcontractor that hired Intext. Enfield Builders had hired Acoustics Inc. to fill in for Intext while the order was in place. UConn is grateful to Acoustics Inc. and its workers for their hard work and flexibility."

On Thursday some students and professors joined members of the New England Regional Council Carpenters' Union in picketing the job site.

"We are shocked and appalled that a law-breaking contractor would be allowed on any state college campus. The heartbreaking stories of wage theft told by workers are dismissed if we allow Intext to return" stated Tim Sullivan, organizer with the New England Regional Council Carpenters, in a prepared release.

Sullivan said all contractors must have workman's compensation insurance and fulfill all obligations for certified payrolls.

"It's absolutely horrible- The whole job was just a mess. We go there in the middle of it, and we get it all straightened out, and we find out the guys who messed it up are back again,'' said Chris Gallo of Carpenters' Local 24, who had brought in to work on the site after the stop-work orders were issued, in a prepared statement. "How would you feel? I'm losing my job because of it. Hopefully they get a building they're looking for."

In a statement at the time the cease and desist orders were issued, UConn officials said that neither the school "nor its general contractor were aware of the violations alleged by the Department of Labor, nor would we condone any such work practices."

State investigators made a surprise visit on Feb. 23, a Sunday, to the construction site on the Storrs campus and interviewed more than 40 workers from Intext and J & V Construction. Pechie said that found that many of the workers were undocumented; that they were being paid in cash to avoid state taxes, insurance costs and workers' compensation; and that they were being paid less than the law allows.

The stop work order prohibits just those two companies from working on the site. They were doing carpentry and framing work for the 75,000-square-foot building. The general contractor is Daniel O'Connell's Sons of Massachusetts. They were not cited by the labor department.

The basketball practice facility is scheduled to be completed by May. The two-story building is being funded by the University of Connecticut Foundation, which raised more than $24 million in private donations.